Le déclin de l'empire américain (1986)

Director:

Denys Arcand

Writer:

Denys Arcand (writer)

Release Date:

November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Four university teachers gather to prepare a dinner. Remy - married, Claude - homosexual, Pierre - girlfriend and Alain - a bachelor discuss sex...

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Dinner | Gym | Affair | Discussion

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 13 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Dominique Michel	...	Dominique
Dorothée Berryman	...	Louise
Louise Portal	...	Diane
Pierre Curzi	...	Pierre
Rémy Girard	...	Rémy
Yves Jacques	...	Claude
Geneviève Rioux	...	Danielle
Daniel Brière	...	Alain
Gabriel Arcand	...	Mario
Évelyn Regimbald
Lisette Guertin
Alexandre Remy
Ariane Frédérique
Jean-Paul Bongo

Also Known As:

The Decline of the American Empire (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Hungary:16 | Portugal:M/16 | West Germany:18 | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-16 | Peru:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Eastern Townships, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Cineplex-Odeon Films

Trivia:

The house in which the majority of the events take place, in Magog, burned down in 1989, was later rebuilt. The scene in which one of the women characters is having sex, seen through a window from outside, was actually shot through a garage window. The actress was sitting on the snow tires which the owner of the house stored in the garage. She told him that, thanks to the tires, it was one of the most comfortable scenes she had ever done.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Le voleur de caméra (1992)

Personal Luck Addiction

The title sounds like as if it comes from Ancient Rome, and in a very galvanized way, this witty-sarcastic tragicomedy from Canada has something to do with it: The easier is life, the looser are the dos. And that is why during a country house weekend stay all the participating intellectual bourgeois charmers, who usually teach history and write books, waffle about sex, sex and sex, while they kick at the fitness center (the women) or prepare a fish plate in the kitchen (the men).

With perfidious lust Denys Arcand contra-dots male and female sex fantasies. When you listen to the gent club between stove and sink, your ears seem to fall off. When you hear the rants of the lady squad between sauna and bodybuilding, the ears of the gents ought to fall off. However, after the gender cliques unite at the table for dinner, a more complicated inner life becomes visible beneath all these ludicrous orgasm rants from before. Friends came together here who are kind to, who lie to, who hurt each other. Bitterness and resignation, but also safety and tolerance remain in the autumn dawn. And after all, it's a film of a verbally disarming sexual humour, adorably acted and with gentle ironies of absurd experiences of life: The human being is multifaceted. Simple are only theories.